The curse of the eastern isle

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With the turn of the new year I figured it was time to start working on writing again. I haven't actually finished a single piece of work in quite a while (over a year) and now that interactive stories are taking off I wanted to try my own hand at one. This story takes place in my own universe, a land where magic is rare and dark forces stalk the world. Players will be taking control of Franziska Audenveil, an adventurer who has traveled to the eastern country of Serkaine hoping to free the island of Oldengrad from a mysterious and deadly curse. To get us started, there are three backgrounds available for Franziska that will help shape her history and abilities, as well as how she is perceived in the world. So let's begin! And I apologize in advance if my writing seems a bit underwhelming...like I said: it's been a long while since I did this.

I would also like to thank a few people from this site who have encouraged me to take the plunge and try putting my writings and world back out there.

Select a background for Franziska. Her chosen background will shape her history and abilities in combat.

Travelling Healer

You were in Orientia during the great plague. You stood at the grand hospital of Vetalli as sickness ran rampant through the city, all the while risking your own life to ensure the lives of others. You are no stranger to disease or disaster. Your knowledge of healing magic and alchemy were not learned in the confines of a fancy academy. They were learned first-hand through methods that make even the toughest men shudder. Now, you wander the free lands, putting your years of medical knowledge to good use, aiding the sick and the poor.

Abilities

Healing Surge: You call upon the divine of Mercy to cure an ally of injuries, ailments, or stress.

Inflict Illness: You manipulate your own magic, inflicting the symptoms of a deadly disease upon an enemy.

Medicine Kit: Using a combination of ingredients and magical energy, you can create healing potions, salves, or tonics.

Experienced Healer: Your years of training in medicine and psychology allow you to diagnose illnesses or mental issues and cure minor injuries such as a cut or scrape without proper supplies.

You have hunted the undead, rogue spirits and even demons. You are a force to be reckoned with, combining a deadly duo of melee and magic. Your childhood was spent under the banner of the Selkava, the monster hunters of the east. Countless hours spent out in the freezing cold as you hoped to hone your swordsmanship, as well as mastering powerful blood magic. You departed the Selkava on the eve of your twelfth year of birth, heading out into the unknown lands, seeking out new evils and challenges.

Abilities

Blood barrier: You call upon your blood magic, sacrificing your own life force to create a magical barrier to protect yourself and your allies.

Blood chain: You call upon your blood magic, using your own blood and magic to form a magical chain that pulls in enemies.

Demon Gaze: You call upon your blood magic, seeking out the presence of any being that possesses blood magic.

Monster Specialist: You can identify most types of demons, aberrations or horrors and the means to deal with them. You can also craft special bombs and potions to aid in combat. In addition your experience with dark forces makes you more resistant to stress or mental breakdowns.

You have studied the outer realms, learning their powers and secrets for your own gain. You spent your early years on the run, a rogue mage hunted relentlessly by the Magic Arcanum. Your family refused to be bound to their rules, taking refuge with a group of mages known as the uncharted. It was with these mages that you studied the outer realms and trained yourself in forbidden magic, learning to manipulate the elements, the minds of your foes, and even the world around you. Now you wander the world as a drifter, seeking out more forbidden magic.

Abilities

Ethereal Walk: You warp the world around you, allowing you or an ally to walk outside of your plane and become invincible for a short time.

Elemental Rune: You call upon the elements, summoning a fire/water/wind/earth rune near you. The rune will explode when something steps over it or can be detonated by it’s caster.

Control Creature: You summon your spirit into a nearby creature, dominating it’s mind and taking control of it. This ability will not work on strong creatures and exposure to dark magic or corruption puts you at risk of mental issues.

Magical Font: Your knowledge and connection to the arcane realms allows you to cast an additional ability once. You are also capable of wielding a fireball/ice blast/wind strike/earth smash in your off-hand

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There is a second vote for the moment, though I don't expect it to come into play just yet. I am considering keeping track of the characters bowels as well as their bladders. A thing I know some people consider a major turn off, so I'd appreciate if people would say if they'd like to see that or not.

Note: I am including a vote from @Pache who isn't a proper member yet. Her vote is for Uncharted Witch

Defensive: Blood barrier: You call upon your blood magic, sacrificing your own life force to create a magical barrier to protect yourself and your allies.

Offensive: Blood chain: You call upon your blood magic, using your own blood and magic to form a magical chain that pulls in enemies.

Support: Demon Gaze: You call upon your blood magic, seeking out the presence of any being that possesses blood magic.

Passive: Monster Specialist: You can identify most types of demons, aberrations or horrors and the means to deal with them. You can also craft special bombs and potions to aid in combat. In addition your experience with dark forces makes you more resistant to stress or mental breakdowns.

Inventory

Worn Silver Shortsword: Your trusty blade. Although it has seen better days.

Canteen: A canteen with the insignia of the Selkava. It is currently full.

Hunters Apparel: A simple tattered set of armour, including an overcoat, leather gauntlets and a leather pauldron. It’s light and keeps you warm on the cold eastern nights.

Selkava Almanac: A valuable and powerful tool for any monster hunter. This book houses centuries of knowledge on the history and key points of many monsters, including their strengths and weaknesses.

Demon Blood: A multi-purpose fluid, harvested from your latest kill. When consumed Demons blood allows you to use one extra ability. Alternatively, it can be applied to a sword to deal more damage against humans.

Bladder Capacity: How well a character can hold their urine before needing to relieve themselves. Characters with a low bladder capacity will have to relieve their bladders more frequently than a character with a high bladder capacity.

Mental Strength: How well a character can handle stressful situations and a measurement of how much torment they can take before suffering a total breakdown. Mental Strength also measures how well characters handle fear. Characters with low mental strength are highly susceptible to fear accidents as well as being more prone to regular accidents. Mentality can be a dangerous foe, breaking away the sanity of the weak-willed until they begin suffering mental breakdowns or horrid delusions.

Abilities: In the heat of combat, when a regular attack may not suffice, characters can call upon special abilities to aid them. Do note that abilities are not unlimited and characters may suffer a penalty for them. For example: magic abilities use a great deal of mental energy and can leave the caster fatigued, making it difficult to fight. Also note that support abilities can not be used in the heat of battle but can be done when in shelter or in some cases, when sneaking up on an enemy.

Green: An ability is ready.

Red: An ability has been used. The character must rest before it can be used again.

I think that sums up what needs to be said for the moment. But now, it's in the hands of the players to aid Franziska to victory over the curse of Oldengrad.

The island of Oldengrad, once a quiet and peaceful land. Now, a place of fear and mystery, an enigma of the modern age. You’d heard the rumours as you travelled the east. Every storyteller from here to Orientia, from Eserith to Balkana, had their own version of the tale to tell. Some claimed it was the beginning of the last stand, the day of reckoning, when the gods would unleash their armies on this forsaken world as punishment for our past transgressions. Others told that it was the work of the Magic Arcanum and their lust for lore and control. They had plunged us into the abyss before, showing that we are enemies of the gods, it would come as no surprise if that unpleasant page of history had been reopened. Finally, there were those who preached this was the price we pay for not seeking atonement. Instead of proving ourselves as more than the forsaken, we spat in the faces of the gods and turned to the ways of steel and steam. The steel city on Oldengrad was a testament to what we could accomplish without the gods and so...they wished to prove a point: That we would be nothing without them. Regardless of their reasons, these wild stories attracted adventurers from across the lands, hoping to solve the mystery of this curse. Many came forward, claiming they could unravel the secrets of Oldengrad, like lambs to slaughter, the brave and the ignorant set sail into the fog...never to return.

You are Franziska Audenveil, an orphan from the grand country of Vetalli. Forced to flee when the great plague came to your country. You were only five at the time. You fled east with a merchant caravan, towards the harsh and brutal country of Serkaine. With nowhere to go and no family by your side, you took refuge where many without coin or name before you had gone. With the Selkava, the monster hunters of the eastern lands. They took you in and trained you in the art of hunting the deadliest monsters, abominations, and demons, sharpening your skills with a sword, even allowing you to undertake the trial of Kavaan, submitting your body to the demons realm in exchange for powerful blood magic. You vowed under their banner to seek out and eliminate the evils of this world and you have stood by that promise since the age of twelve, when you left the guild and set out into the frozen wasteland, sticking by your oath and seeking out new evils wherever they may be.

Every night, hidden by hood and shadow in the darkest corner, you sat, listening to the storytellers as they brought in crowds by the dozen. You didn’t care much for their morals or scorning of humanity, but you were sure of one truth in the words each one spoke: An evil had taken Oldengrad. Perhaps it was fate? You spent your adolescence challenging yourself against the worst this world had to offer. Every time you succeeded. Now a great challenge stood before you, perhaps even the greatest challenge you’d undertake. As countless fools hoped to succeed and the rumours around Oldengrad intensified, you took your chance, picking up your belongings and setting course along the Eserith road toward Dzarapor, the last port of call before Oldengrad.

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Damn this took a while, but here we are. We have begun! It would’ve been here sooner but pastebin basically went “Fuck you!” and crashed while I was writing the middle section. I’m happy how this turned out and I want to drop a thank you to @KozmoFox for proofreading and giving me feedback on my writing. Also if anybody has any criticism or feedback about my writing, I'd love to hear it. We don't improve by being told we're perfect._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Eserith Road

You had made camp the night before by the foot of a small creek, with nothing more than a lantern and cloak to shield you against the cold. Winter in Serkaine was unforgiving, but it seemed fortune favoured you. You awoke at dawn, groaning as your night sleeping on the cold ground had wrought a terrible pain on your back. It would seem a night in the snug confines of a tavern with a plump feather bed the day before had softened you up. You stagger to your feet, each minor movement of your body causing you to groan more and more. When you are up and on your feet the morning begins with the usual routine, scouting the area for the best place to relieve your bladder. You settle on a small patch of grass beneath a nearby oak tree. You throw down your trousers, lift up the bottom of your overcoat to keep it safe and squat down in the grass, letting out a small shriek as the cold grass caresses your bare backside. You relax for a moment, listening to the gentle river beside you. A shudder runs through you as an entire nights worth of tea pours out from between your legs, splattering onto the earth below. A pool of piss and steam has formed around you before you finally feel fully empty and you can't help but let out another sigh as the last trickle of urine falls from between your legs. With nothing to wipe with, you shake off the last few drops and pull your trousers back up. Afterwards you turn to a breakfast of dried meat and tea beside the creek. It was a beautiful morning in the forest, a thin layer of snow covered the ground, the moon above painted the forest with an eerily beautiful streak of blood red, as if the gods themselves had run a painters brush along the woodlands. It was a sight that put you at peace, a rarity these days in the east, something that kept you at ease and quelled the storm of fear and uncertainty within you. Finally, you pack up your things and climb onto your horse, preparing for the final few miles along the Eserith road.

You ride at full speed, deeper into the forest. The thick trees begin to steal the sunlight, leaving you almost in darkness, but you find your way along the roads. Further along, it gets lighter again and the paths begin to twist and turn. Soon, you come across a caravan ditched along the side of the road, without a human or horse in sight. You slow your pace as you pass, examining the site. From the splintered wood and dried blood splattered around it's obvious these poor people fell victim to a pack of wolves, a common problem on the road made made worse by the presence of the red moon. The month of the red moon was a strange time in the east, when dark magic crept into the world, driving the beasts and freaks of the land into an unstoppable frenzy. You wished you could stop and investigate properly, to carry out your duty as a monster hunter, to find this pack of frenzied wolves and stop them from harming anymore folk who come along the road. But Oldengrad is your priority at the moment, and based on the dried blood...it was most likely too late to do anything for them now. You shake your head, place a firm hand on the hilt of your sword and continue pushing forward through the forest. Time passes quickly, it feels like several hours have passed, but you're not sure, you spent your time with one eye forward and one to the shadows, scouting for any sign of the frenzied wolves. It seems to be clear, allowing you to relax your sword arm as you cover the final stretch of the road. At long last, after what seems like another few hours of riding, you see it...the end of the road. The glow of sunlight beckons you toward it. You push forward, the journey is almost over. You ride out into the open tundra, smiling at the sight of a small town in the distance. You are finally here...the end of the world...and the last stop before Oldengrad.

You ride up to the town of Dzarapor, a miserable little hamlet on the borders of the country. As you head in through the gates, you are welcomed by the smell of fish invading your senses and the sad sight of small stone shacks that make you realize just how far you’ve come towards the end of the world. There isn’t much to see here, a small port town hides behind the thin wooden barricades, a small handful of people stand at the foot of the ocean, their fishing rods cast out while they stand idly chatting. It’s quiet in the town, something that makes you feel uncomfortable. You hop down from your horse, weary from your journey on the road. There is nothing more you’d like right now than a good meal and a warm drink to stave off the winter air and the fatigue that lingers within you...but duty calls. You look around at the small town, taking note of the services available to you. At the north of the town you notice the tavern. Just staring at the sign makes your stomach growl and your mouth go dry as your mind wanders back to the tempting thoughts of hot salted pork and a warm cup of mulled wine, but your hunger can wait, for the tavern would offer you a more important service: information about local mercenaries and adventurers. This was not a job you could undertake on your own and with the gold you’d saved over your years of monster hunting, you could easily afford a few extra hands to aid you. Just down the road from the tavern stands the blacksmith, the glow of the forge spreads out into the street, casting an orange light onto the dirt. The sounds of the hammer banging against the anvil echo out into the air. The blacksmith is hard at work. You ponder a visit there also, hoping to get your hands on a weapon or two. And finally, you see a small wooden caravan in the center of the town, manned by a strange lady in colourful attire. A gypsy, perhaps? A rare sight these days but they have their uses, dealing in trinkets, charms, and ingredients for alchemy. You know it is important to prepare properly, especially when this may very well be the most important contract you’ve ever taken.

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I like this first part very much!
Are you inspired by The Witcher and Dragon Age? You definitly could have choosen worse^^

The Witcher plays a massive influence. When I started building this world a few years ago, I used a few influences from the witcher as building blocks and I like to imagine my world looks a lot like the world of The Witcher. There is a tiny bit of dragon age in there, but that's only because I spent a long time playing it when I was younger. But The Witcher, Game of Thrones, Elder Scrolls, and even borderlands are the top inspirations. There's also this https://www.artstation.com/artist/jakubrozalski.

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I saw borderlands and instantly thought of the ton of guns that game has. Btw are we going to be taking any quests or are we going straight to Oldengrad?

Time for some constructive criticism yay!

The story seems to be pretty good so far but why did you put our bladder % at the beginning of the story? I also feel like there could be a bit more detail but it is the start of the story and we want to get it rolling right away.